By Kristy Gilligan 

‘utility beyond the call of duty’

The wonderful thing about aviation is that every look into the future is also a look into the past and the Sparrowhawk is a fine Australian example of when these two elements, past and future, merge together and create something special. The Sparrowhawk is inspired by the early Piper Cubs and, after several other successful aircraft designs, has evolved from the hands of its creator, Chris Conroy, to be the dream machine it is today.

The Sparrowhawk embodies everything the home builder could wish for. There’s performance, ease of build, a unique look and utility beyond the call of duty. And it’s an Aussie! Conroy has designed and manufactured this Light Sports Aircraft around an earlier single seat ‘Rag n Tube’ Sparrow. First the project went tandem and now to the side by side two-seater Sparrowhawk, through an extensive 10 year, 30,000 hour research and development programme. The aircraft is available either as a kit or fly away.

The composite structure is extremely tough and damage resistant and easily repaired in the field. With a cabin width exceeding that of a Cessna 172 by seven inches (175mm), plenty of head and leg room and a cargo compartment rivalling that of the famous Aussie ute in capacity, this aircraft is ideal as a fast comfortable tourer and is equally at home in the role of property support, loaded with tools and fence posts, or even a lamb or sheep dog in the back. (Perhaps not together!)

The engine bay will readily accept a wide range of engines from 80hp to 160hp. Add to this 100 litres of internal fuel and you’ve got an aircraft with an endurance of anywhere from four to six hours at over 200km/h.

The kit has been designed to make assembly as rapid, undemanding, instructive and as much fun as possible, whilst remaining within the guidelines of the major proportion rule.
All structural fibreglass work is done at the factory. In fact, the mould is used as a jig whilst the fuselage internals are installed and the fuselage is delivered as a joined unit. The wings are modular, requiring the builder to make a simple wooden table on which to assemble them. The operation takes one day per wing. Ailerons, flaps, tailplanes, elevators and rudder come joined, requiring minor filling of seams, preparation and painting. The main landing gear is a single continuous filament composite unit which is immensely strong and requires only preparation and painting. The builder is required to assemble the wings, install engine, control systems, instruments, brakes, undercarriage, control surface hinges and actuating circuits, doors, windscreens and rear cabin windows, fuel system, tail or nose wheel assembly, upholstery and carpet and prepare and paint the airframe. Some of these operations require the use of fibreglass fillers and bonding laminates and this is comprehensively covered in Conroy’s detailed step-by-step assembly manual and videos. Feedback from current builders indicates that this kind of home build should take no more than around 400 hours.

Even major airframe damage can be repaired quickly and easily in the field. The flying surfaces are all jig built, meaning that if, say, a tailplane or wing is damaged, a new factory unit will fit straight on.

Accessories include an underbelly cargo pod which can either have a separate supplementary fuel tank plumbed into the main system with an electric uplift pump, or carry cans. You can also option up with plain or amphibious floats and you can even have a second set of long wings of up to 40ft span to convert the Sparrowhawk to a motor glider.

It’s hard to think of something the Sparrowhawk can’t do. Perhaps corporate charter is out of the question? But for the Australian landscape, the private owner has nothing to lose in building or buying this handsome aircraft, grown from Chris Conroy’s years of passion and unrelenting drive.